Engaging one's visitors through specially tailored website content is an important part of the website design and marketing process. Such content will allow website owners to reach out to their visitors in a way that is both relevant and welcoming. The goal when writing website content is to be targeted and to write for a specific audience, as opposed to being overly general.

Engaging one's visitors through specially tailored website content is an important part of the website design and marketing process. Such content will allow website owners to reach out to their visitors in a way that is both relevant and welcoming. The goal when writing website content is to be targeted and to write for a specific audience, as opposed to being overly general and writing for everyone.

For example, if a website were to sell clothing to a very specific group of women with specific needs, say maternity clothing for expecting mothers, then it would be in the site's best interest to engage that specific audience. Otherwise, generalizing the site's content to appeal to everyone - in this case men and non-expecting women - could negatively affect a site's performance and annoy its core audience. Simply put, website owners need to be as targeted as their core-audience allows them to be.

Consider this. When a person write's a 'thank you' note, traditionally the messaging is unique to each individual recipient. Such a note will include the person's name and the reasons to which they are being thanked. For example, one note might read:

"Dear Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary, John and I really appreciate that you were able to take part in our special day. Furthermore, we thank you for our new blender. It is a great gift, and it will come in handy when we all get together for margaritas this fall. Love, John and Jane"

A wedding 'thank you' note should never be written as:

"Dear Guest, Thank you for the gift and/or money that you've given to us. We will surely use it. Sincerely, John and Jane Doe"

Can you imagine how such a note will make your wedding guests feel? Similarly, you risk bestowing those same feelings upon your website visitor when you fail to create content that is unique to them and their needs.

2 Rules for Better Content Writing

In closing, I have 2 tips, or rather rules that I wish to share with readers in hopes that they will assist in your content creating efforts. They are as follows:

Know Your Target Audience

Knowing your target audience isn't the same as knowing the general age and sex of the people that buy your products and services. Instead, I'm suggesting that website owners need to have a much deeper and more personal understanding of their customers. Owners should know what their customer's exact needs are, as well as any number of other concerns that may influence their purchase.

For example, all liquor store owners know that their average customer is going to be male and over the age of 21, but how does that help them sell more alcohol? It doesn't. However, let's assume that a particular liquor store is located conveniently near a college campus. If this is the case, it would be a safe bet to assume that the store's core audience is college students. With that, it would be best for the store if it lessened its inventory of Grey Goose Vodka and instead stocked up on 30-packs of Busch Light beer. College students traditionally drink beer and are, after all, on a limited budget.

My point is simple. Regardless if your writing content for a website or selling booze to college students, the more one knows and understands about your target audience, the better they'll be at engaging them in a way that makes sense to them.

Follow Through, Despite Other's Opinion

While easier said than done, website owners should only be concerned about their target audience and what they think. Frankly, it is they who make a website successful and therefore it their opinions that matter.

Using the same liquor store example from above, imagine how disappointed a drive-by customer would be if on their commute to a party dropped in to purchase a high-end bottle of wine, and could only find $7.00 jugs of the cheap stuff. I imagine that they'd be extremely disappointed. Now, imagine how upset the store owner will be to have missed this one sale. I image not too disappointed.

The simple truth is that stocking a selection of top-shelf wine is not a profitable scenario for this particular liquor store owner. The owner understands that their core customers are college students, and therefore carrying products that appeal to their needs is more important than satisfying the general passerby. The same can be said for your site's content and marketing efforts. Your goal as a website owner is to capture the attention of your target audience and then influence their decision through special, targeted verbiage. I encourage website owners to do this regardless of what a random shopper might think.